American fascism will empower its foot soldiers by making them feel like "real Americans" who are superior to black and brown people, nonwhite immigrants, those who speak a language other than English, the poor, and gays and lesbians. [...]

American fascism will try to wear a mask of respectability and normality by carrying the banner of the Republican Party.

American fascism will encourage violence against liberals, progressives and Democrats. [...] American fascism will distract the public through the spectacle of entertainment and consumerism.

American fascism will not need internment camps and political street thugs to do its work. Nor will American fascism involve an overt crackdown on free speech and the free press. It will achieve its shock and awe -- first by electing an authoritarian leader -- and then by slowly creating a "new normal" where the heretofore unimaginable is just taken as a dose of daily outrage until it is eclipsed by the next.

"To ignore this reality," he writes, "is to be willfully ignorant, to be in denial or to be drunk on American exceptionalism:"

Militant nationalism is high on this list. Why? Authoritarians surround themselves with generals and wrap themselves in the superficial trappings of patriotism (such as flags and anthems) because they provide a sense of authority and power. This allows the authoritarian leader to intimidate his enemies at home, provides symbolic and material comfort for his base, expands his control over the state and projects power abroad. Militant nationalism also overlaps with fascism and authoritarianism: They are masculine political ideologies that are obsessed with "virility," "strength" and male sexual potency.

President Donald Trump enjoys far stronger support among members of the military than the American public at large, according to the latest scientific Military Times poll. [...] Overall, about 44 percent of all troops surveyed in the Military Times poll have a favorable view of Trump, while roughly 40 percent have an unfavorable opinion of him. That's a stark contrast to opinion polls of the general public, which have shown Trump's popularity at less than 40 percent and an unfavorable rating as high as 56 percent.

DeVega writes that "Trump, his administration, his voters, the right-wing media and the Republican Party in its present form are a clear and present danger to American democracy:"

Those in denial of this fact are relying on an obsolescent and naive assumption that America's "enduring political institutions" will protect the country from authoritarianism and fascism.